Antidepressant Types

Finding the right antidepressant regimen can take months. But a test in development may help. Angelos Halaris, a professor of psychiatry at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, has found that high blood levels of a protein, VEGF, predicts response to the drug escitalopram (Lexapro); 85 percent of depressed people with high VEGF levels improved on this treatment, versus 10 percent of those with the lowest levels. Scientists theorize that VEGF is involved in regeneration of brain cells and helps antidepressants work; there's evidence such a test might also apply to other SSRI drugs, Halaris says.